Working while taking survivor benefits at 66 - how much tax will I pay on $80k income?

I've been in a similar situation. With $80k income, up to 85% of your SS survivor benefits will likely be taxable at your regular income tax rate. When I first started collecting survivor benefits after my wife passed, I had around $75k income and about 85% of my benefits were subject to tax. But remember, taking survivor benefits at your FRA (which sounds like it's 66 in your case) means you get 100% of your husband's benefit amount. For me, it was still worth it even with the taxes because I could let my own retirement benefit continue to grow until 70. I used the service at claimyr.com to get through to an actual SSA agent to confirm all this - their video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU shows exactly how it works. Saved me hours of trying to get someone on the phone!

my husbnd died 2 yrs ago and i got surviver benefits. yes you will pay taxes if you make that much money. i only make about 30k and i still have to pay some tax on my ss. i think theres a formula on ssa.gov somewhere

With an $80,000 income, your Social Security benefits will definitely be subject to taxation. Up to 85% of your benefits can be included in your taxable income. The exact amount depends on your "combined income" which is your adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + half of your Social Security benefits. If that exceeds $44,000 for married filing jointly or $34,000 for single filers, up to 85% of benefits are taxable. However, there's a potential strategy here: Since you're reaching your Full Retirement Age soon, you could claim survivor benefits at 66 and let your own retirement benefit grow until age 70. This would give you a 32% increase in your own benefit. Then at 70, you could switch to whichever benefit is higher. This strategy often makes financial sense even with the tax implications.

I'm sorry for your loss. When my wife passed away I was in a similar situation. One thing nobody mentioned yet is that if you're still working full-time with health insurance, you might want to delay Medicare enrollment when you turn 65 to avoid paying premiums for coverage you already have. Just something else to consider with all these decisions!

Have u considered waiting till 70 to get the highest possible benefit? My financial advisor said that's usually the best strategy for widows who are still working. You'd get an extra 8% per year from 66 to 70. That's what I'm doing.

Regarding your original tax question: At an $80k income level, you'll likely pay your normal tax rate on 85% of your Social Security benefits. If you're in the 22% federal tax bracket, that means effectively about 18.7% of your total benefit goes to federal taxes (22% of 85%). State taxes vary depending on where you live - some states don't tax Social Security at all. The benefit amount itself will be based on your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) if you claim at your full retirement age. If he already started benefits before passing, it gets more complicated and depends on when he started receiving them.

dont forget that survivor benefits and retirement r different things! my sister thought they were the same and got confused when applying

One important detail that hasn't been mentioned yet: When you reach your Full Retirement Age (66 in your case), the earnings test no longer applies to survivor benefits. This means you can earn any amount without having your survivor benefit reduced. Before FRA, benefits are reduced if earnings exceed certain limits ($22,320 in 2025 with $1 reduction for every $2 over the limit). So while taxes will take a bite out of your benefits at your income level, at least you won't face the additional reduction from the earnings test once you reach 66 in February 2025.